UN: The business executive who wrote a memo suggesting that the UN secretary general and his aides assured him that his company would win a UN contract now denies he ever discussed the contract with Kofi Annan, his lawyers have said.
"Mr Wilson never met or had any discussion with the United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan, on the issue of the bid for the UN contract by Cotecna at the Francophone Summit, during the bidding process or at any time prior to the award of the contract," yesterday's statement said.
The memo, written by former Cotecna Inspection Services vice president Michael Wilson, was provided by the company on Monday to congressional investigators.
Wilson is a long-time family friend of the Annans and helped the secretary general's son, Kojo, get a job at the company in 1995.
In 1998, Cotecna won a $10-million a year contract to inspect Iraqi imports in the oil-for-food programme. Two panels are looking into whether Mr Annan steered it to his son's employer. - (LA Times-Washington Post)